"Also, how about Julianne Moore's performance in Still Alice? Incredible, right?"
That was Fred Armisen's running gag in his Independent Spirit Awards monologue today. It's also the night's comedic highlight so far.
Yes, she is incredible. It was the most memorable performance of the year. Full Story

This Best Actor race is the tightest category face-off in years. Like Lainey wrote yesterday, it might be too close to call. But since Oscar voting ends on Tuesday, the top three contenders — Eddie Redmayne, Michael Keaton and Bradley Cooper — are now in the final phase of campaigning, which means it's time to kiss babies. Full Story

Boyhood won the BAFTA last night. But on Saturday, the Directors Guild picked Birdman. The DGAs are considered a very, very, VERY good predictor of Oscar Best Picture; only 7 times in history have the DGA and the Academy picked differently. Even still, Boyhood has its share of support. So with a week to go before the voting period closes, it’s a legitimate race. Full Story

After Eddie Redmayne took the SAG award over the weekend, the Best Actor Oscar race is solidly Redmayne vs. Keaton, with Redmayne gaining an edge. That hasn’t stopped Benedict Cumberbatch from campaigning his ass off, but he probably just tanked whatever chance he had at an upset by making a really unfortunate, very troubling comment about the challenges faced by “colored” actors in the UK. Full Story

Marion Cotillard was in the States for a couple of weeks and some thought she’d be done with award season after Critics Choice. But we now know she’ll be back…because last Thursday, the Oscars invited her to the Best Actress party. It’s important to note how much respect she has within the Academy too to have been nominated (again) because her role in Two Days, One Night is in French (again), her second nomination for a non-English role. Full Story

Reese Witherspoon, American Citizen, attended the sh*tshow that is the Critics’ Choice Awards last night and she looked totally done with everything from the very beginning. Host Michael Strahan did a bit with her in the first ten minutes of the show and I thought she was going to spit poison at him like a venomous cobra. Full Story

Julianne Moore won Best Actress last night at Critics’ Choice. During her acceptance speech, she listed off the others in her category: Reese Witherspoon, Jennifer Aniston, Felicity Jones, Rosamund Pike… but not Marion Cotillard.
Don’t hold it against her. Instead, see it as a result of what we’ve all been assaulted with over the last couple of months: Jennifer Aniston’s Oscar campaigning. Full Story

Bradley Cooper just took out Jake Gyllenhaal for a Best Actor Oscar nomination this morning. It’s his 3rd Oscar nomination in a row. This is what happens when you work with Clint Eastwood.
Last week, I wrote an article called “Dark Horse Bradley CooperFull Story

It’s almost as if they were like, “Hey, we gave you 12 Years A Slave in 2014. So wait another 10 years before we reward you again”.
I mean, I’m happy for Laura Dern, and Emma Stone, and Mark Ruffalo. But David Oyelowo belongs there. And, more importantly, Ava DuVernay belongs there. Full Story

For Angelina Jolie and Unbroken, the signs were there that it wasn’t happening. It’s been a month of signs. Unbroken did however receive 3 nominations in technical categories. So… it’s something.
For Jennifer Aniston…
After two months of aggressive – and impressive! – campaigning. Full Story

The BAFTA nominations were announced today. The Grand Budapest Hotel leads the list with the film’s Ralph Fiennes taking a Leading Actor spot alongside the acknowledged locks in the category Michael Keaton, Benedict Cumberbatch, and Eddie Redmayne. Jake Gyllenhaal is firmly in fourth right now for Oscar consideration and as for Steve Carell, the British Academy has moved him over to Best Supporting Actor.

But no Jennifer Aniston. Instead, the BAFTAs named Amy Adams to the Leading Actress list. (Amy was out last night at a pre-Globes party hosted by W Magazine. Photos are attached below.) Does this jeopardise Aniston’s shot at being called by Oscar next Thursday when the Academy reveals its nominees? I don’t think so. Her campaign wasn’t focused on the BAFTA. The other day, I mentioned Sandra Bullock’s Oscar speech in a post about Aniston and the award season support from all her friends. Read Full Intro

It’s been, what?, about a month now since we last saw them on a carpet together, right? Was it the world premiere of Unbroken in Australia? When Unbroken’s Oscar chances looked a lot better? Before the Sony hack, before the chicken pox…
Here they are, Angelina Jolie, fresh from meeting the Pope, and Brad Pitt today in LA at the AFI Awards. Full Story

Three Best Actress contenders were out last night in Hollywood before the Golden Globes. Reese Witherspoon and Rosamund Pike were both at the W Magazine party at Chateau Marmont while Felicity Jones attended a reception at the British Consulate with Eddie Redmayne to celebrate The Theory Of Everything. Full Story